Jury Report on 2002 Free Flight European Championships F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Pierre Chaussebourg | FRA | Delegate and CIAM 1st VP |
Ian Kaynes | GBR | FF s/c Chairman |
Andras Ree | HUN | Delegate & CIAM 3rd VP |
Dates
July 29 to August 4 2002
Location
Kunszentmiklos, Hungary
Information
Adequate information was available in advance from the competition web site. However, there was a complete lack of printed information at the event. This was a problem for people who had not brought printed copies of the web information or for learning about any changes.
Accommodation
Teams and officials were accommodated in hotels and houses in the local towns, of various costs and quality. Meals were not supplied to the competitors by the organisers. Dinner was purchased in restaurants of choice, at generally reasonable prices. A basic packed lunch was provided to officials on the field.
Flying site
The flying site was a flat grass-covered area of national parkland. There were a few obstructions, the most notable of these being a river close to the starting area. A temporary bridge was erected over the river at the end of the F1A competition and these greatly eased access for the other two days. There was a site rule that cars should be parked in the specified area and this was obeyed as soon as the car parking area had been marked. Another site rule was that no retrieving should be made by motorised vehicles. This was generally observed when it was established that it was monitored by the park wardens with power to impose a fine.
Participation
208 competitors from 30 countries.
Competition
The flying took place on three days with each class decided by flyoffs within the evening of the same day. The weather was generally good, with a variable wind direction often along the starting line. There were some storms, particularly during F1A day when the start of round 7 was delayed by one hour to wait for a storm to pass.
The field organisation was good except that registration of models before the event was not thorough (certificates not checked for showing the models meeting the 2002 Sporting Code). Processing, during, and after contest for the winners, was adequate. The display of scores on the scoreboard was very slow, up to 4 rounds behind the event.
Timekeeping
Most of the timekeepers were from Hungary and were experienced. Some were lacking adequate binoculars and tripods. Timing was good and there was no major problem.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
Opening ceremony was on a sports field in Kunszentmikl3/4s. It was followed by a team managers reception and meeting.
The closing ceremony and banquet was in the recreation centre in Kunszentmikl3/4s. Apart from starting late there was no problem with the prize-giving. The banquet was conveniently located upstairs from the prize-giving. However, the banquet was very poor value for the €40 fee: there was very little space and few tables and chairs (much fewer than required for the number of tickets sold)
In addition to the European Championships awards, some of the trophies missing from the 2001 World Championships had been returned by Bosnia Herzegovina and were presented to the 2001 winners. The F1A team trophy was not brought by the Slovakian team and has still not been awarded
Protest
A protest was made by Ukraine following an incident on the field during F1C day:
During registration for the Puszta Cup open international event before the championships the organisers rejected two $100 notes from Alex Molchanov (Ukraine) as possibly counterfeit. The third note that he offered was accepted by the organizers, but later when it was paid into the bank it was identified as counterfeit. Standard procedure then required the bank to notify the police.
The police contacted the organisers asking how they could contact Molchanov and were told that he would be flying F1C on Friday (while accurate, this was extremely unfortunate in view of the probability that this would interrupt his flying).
The police came to the flying site on Friday during the second round with the sole aim of interviewing Molchanov (not intending to detain him). They found him on the starting line and took him to his car, which was in the car park about 200m away.
The next that was known was the police had searched his car and Molchanov had been handcuffed. The Ukrainian helpers went to the place and attempted to stop the police. This resulted in the police calling for reinforcements and two of the other Ukrainians were arrested.
All 3 were taken to the local police station. Molchanov was released later that day and the two who had obstructed the police were reported to be released during the weekend with condition of leaving Hungary.
The other Ukrainian F1C flyers stopped competing at this time. Ukraine submitted a protest requesting the competition be stopped. The Jury rejected this because it found no FAI regulation giving the power to interrupt the contest.
World Championship 2003
The same organisers have been awarded the 2003 World Championships, to be held at the same site. In order to assist the organisers in planning this event, the jury present an annex to this report with detail suggestions on improvements to the running of the event.
Conclusion
The Hungarian Federation are congratulated for a successful Championship.
ANNEX. SUGGESTIONS FOR ORGANISATION OF 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The following items are suggestions made by the Jury as lessons learnt to be improved at the 2003 World Championships.
Information
Information on the web site was adequate. However, this needs to be reinforced by printed information distributed to all competitors and team managers at registration. A minimum requirement is to provide:
a) a schedule of events
b) a list of competitors (names and numbers).
c) local rules and flying site details
Team Managers meeting
a) This should be held one day earlier, not the evening before the first competition day
b) The draw for starting positions for the three events could be made by the jury in advance and distributed to the team managers at the meeting (on printed sheets defining the starting positions for all countries for all 3 classes)
c) The meeting should be run by a forceful and knowledgable contest director. He should tell team managers any special rules and organisational details and then ask for questions.
Field Organisation
a) Improved food and supply for timekeepers – to be taken to the starting poles at lunch time by dedicated staff (not stop recording scores to do it)
b) Mark F1C fuel bottles more clearly with a large warning label. A small white label is not adequate warning of the contents, given that the bottles were very similar to water bottles
c) Have the bridge in place over the river for the complete period of practice flying and competition days.
d) Car parking and acceptable launch areas should be marked clearly from the start of practice flying.
e) Provide the Jury with dedicated place with seats and storage area.
Scoring
a) Score card to include a copy system so that the team manager is given a copy of the flight time after he has signed to agree the flight time
b) Direct transfer of scores from scorecards to the score centre. In USA a radio link was used to transmit scores read at the starting pole to the computer operator and the people updating the scoreboard.
c) Mark the scoreboard with numbers down the side to allow easy reading of the position of any flyer.
d) Extend the sticker system used to show maximum times with a sticker (e.g. blue colour) for maximum time when the competitor no longer has a full score (instead of writing 180)
e) Generate the latest team scores for each round and update the team results on the scoreboard.
f) Print summary results for team managers and jury at key times (e.g. at end of the 7 rounds)
Banquet
This was very inadequate for the number of people attending. There should be enough tables and chairs for all the people to whom tickets have been sold. This requires a much larger space and more furniture than was available at the location used this year. Also the World Championships will have more people at prize-giving and banquet than at the European Championships.